After breakfast in Milan, we walked across the road to the train station to catch our train into Switzerland. This journey was to be two legs: An Italian train from Milan to Tirano on the Swiss border, then a change to the Bernina Express into St Moritz. We had already booked our seats on the Bernina Express in the panoramic, first class carriage and were excited since it was to be a highlight of our trip. We arrived at the Milan train station, where we had also booked first class tickets on the Italian leg of the journey. The first issue occurred when we tried to find the first class carriages. We walked up and down the platform in search of these elusive carriages. Eventually we were told by an attendant that someone had smashed the glass in the only first class carriage the previous day and there was no first class. We had paid for first class tickets, but anyway, such is life. We chose one of the dirty, graffiti covered carriages and settled in for the first leg.

We felt confident that we had plenty of time between trains; we had an hour to play with after the proposed ETA of the Italian leg and the departure time of the Bernina Express. We enjoyed the first half hour as we travelled along the shore of Lake Como. At the very first stop, the train sat at the platform for what seemed like an eternity. After about 10 minutes they made an announcement that “unauthorised persons were on the tracks” and they couldn’t leave until the issue was resolved. It turns out that people were throwing rocks at the trains and we sat at the station for over 30 minutes before we took off. We felt slightly nervous about missing our train at Tirano, but we still had half an hour to play with, so we didn’t hit the panic button yet. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the last delay and the train stopped frequently for extended periods until an announcement was made that we were now 42 minutes behind schedule. Now we were starting to worry. If the train was delayed much more we would miss our Bernina Express departure. We nervously kept checking our watches as the minutes ticked away until suddenly and unexpectedly the train stopped and we were there! We still had 30 minutes to spare, so the crisis was averted.

Tirano was a beautiful little alpine village, with little chalets dotted amongst the trees on the mountainsides. We boarded our panoramic carriage and set off for St Moritz. As we left Tirano, we were amazed to see that the train track ran down the main street. There were cars passing us and shops on either side of the train. It wasn’t long, however until we left the town and entered the Swiss Alps. The carriage was perfect for viewing the awe-inspiring landscape, with windows going all the way up to the roof. Expansive valleys with tiny, ancient villages nestled in them, surrounded by massive, snow-capped mountains with glaciers snaking their way down the ravines. The day was perfect, with no cloud at all. We befriended a couple from Manchester, Heather and Andy, who gave us lots of useful tips, including the fact that you could go into the back of the carriage and lower the window to get the best photos with no glare from the windows. They also gave us advice about our planned trip next year to Wales! Bonus!

We didn’t want our train journey to end, but after 2.5 hours, we arrived in St Moritz. We took all of our luggage and saw that it was only a 10 minute walk to our hotel, so we elected to walk there. We didn’t count on the fact that it was all uphill. We grunted and groaned and lugged our suitcases all the way up the hill until we finally arrived at the hotel, puffing and sweating. Outside the hotel was parked a huge Mercedes van with the hotel’s logo on it. We entered the foyer of the hotel to see Heather and Andy there. She asked why we didn’t book the shuttle to pick us up from the train station. Great question.

The hotel was beautiful and ideally located to take advantage of the views across Lake St Moritz with mountains in every direction topped with the obligatory snow caps. We all enjoyed some local fare in the restaurant downstairs for dinner, starting with “La Pinsa”, which is like a pizza, but with a crispy base not unlike the Italian pizza bianca. The girls then enjoyed a bowl of the traditional Swiss barley soup, which they said was really tasty.

The next morning we wandered around St Moritz, checking out some of the shops, including a place recommended by our concierge, who explained that they made the best chocolate in Switzerland. The shop was called Laderach and we were given a chocolate tasting when we arrived. The chocolate was pretty amazing, so much so that we all bought some. Rob and Caitlynne went a bit overboard, spending $60 on the stuff! This is in part because Switzerland is riDICulously expensive!

After that we took a very relaxing stroll around the lake, where Rob and I had a chat with a local who was fly fishing. Giaginto was an old guy who was quite happy to tell us all about fly fishing, stating that he doesn’t catch much because there are not a lot of fish in the lake. He does occasionally catch trout or Grayling. He showed us the fly he was using, which he made himself from a tiny pheasant feather. The hook was so tiny, we were left wondering if that was the reason he never catches anything. As we wandered around the lake we saw plenty of fish swimming around, so I think Giaginto was into the fishing more for the leisure than the fish.

After lunch we took a train to a place called Diavolezza, where we boarded a cable car to the top of the mountain. It was very cloudy just before we left, but as we arrived in Diavolezza, the cloud cleared and we ascended into a winter wonderland, with snow all around us and wonderful views. Things got a little heated between Rob and I when we engaged in a snowball fight, which culminated in him piffing huge fists of ice at the girls. I came to their honour by charging him and giving him a hip and shoulder, sending him sprawling into the snow. Lucky for him he hadn’t trimmed his eyebrows for a while, which prevented the snow from falling into his eyes.

We caught the next cable car down the mountain just as the cloud settled in again, and it was an eerie feeling descending into a wall of white. The cloud cleared just as we were coming to the bottom, in enough time for us to see our train pulling into the station. We were praying for it to wait for us, but just as we reached the cable car station, it took off. The next train was an hour away, so we had to hang around the cable car station for an hour. We managed to amuse ourselves for a while taking photos with a stuffed goat. One goat! The train finally arrived and, on the way back, Rob pulled his backpack off the luggage rack. His eyebrows must have encroached on his vision, because he didn’t notice the massive, heavy umbrella on top of his backpack, which he dislodged, causing it to fall directly onto poor Caitlynne’s face. Awkwardo!

When we arrived back at St Moritz, we had just missed the bus back to our hotel, and we didn’t really want to walk all the way up the hill again, so we elected to take a taxi. We piled in and took off. The taxi took all of 2 minutes to reach our hotel and the driver turned around and said “19 francs”. This amounts to $31 Australian dollars, so it was the shortest, most riDICulously expensive taxi ride of our lives.

We walked around the corner to another recommended shop called Hanselmann, who apparently make a famous shortbread flan filled with caramelised nuts called nusstorte. We bought some and it was delicious.

That night we went to a restaurant called Waldhaus Am See, where we had a table overlooking the lake and town. It was a fantastic meal, with an impressive view. We ordered a bottle of Montalcino wine to enjoy with our meal. A fitting way to spend our last night in St Moritz. Tomorrow we head to Zurich.